Ahead of her Platinum Jubilee, the Queen granted the BBC access to an archive of previously unseen home videos held in the vaults of the BFI, dating all the way back to the 1920s. The resulting 75-minute documentary offers a remarkable behind-the-scenes glimpse into her family life, which teems with vitality and warmth. If it’s intended as a corrective to The Crown, it’s certainly an effective one.
When they are wheeled out for public consumption, the royals are staid and static - they are famously barely allowed to wave properly, lest it seem undignified. But family photos and footage, the Queen notes in her opening voiceover, recorded specially for the project earlier this month, “can often show the fun behind the formality,” and much of this film’s charm stems from the sheer novelty of seeing these historical figures spring into life without inhibition.
